Our Farm in Action...

The kids LOVED the farm theme in the classroom this week!!  The Duck Pond was a huge success, but so was the Chicken Coop.  I was surprised at how much fun they had in the chicken coop.  They loved collecting the eggs, gathering veggies from the garden and milking Bessy the cow.  It was so sweet. 

 

 

 

We added slime to the mix this week also.  It was just a little science experiment that we had wanted to try for a few weeks, and we finally got to it this week.  Slime, along with some farm animals = FUN!!!

The Duck Pond in action!!  Although the slide was a little steep, the kids loved it and kept most of the water in the water tables.  I was surprised at the precision they had when transferring the water the from one table to the other. 

 

The dry erase boards were temporarily moved when we made room for the farm areas, and the kids have LOVED using them in the dramatic play area, where the chicken coop and milking cow are located.  They are really practicing their writing and drawing.  It is so much fun to watch.

Here is the actual coop :)  The kids love it!!!

Since we are TK we do a lot of differentiating.  I have students who are still working on learning letters and sounds all the way to students who are reading and writing stories.  So, we have been doing a lot of writing activities that go along with our farm theme.  One of our first writing activities was drawing a picture of what our job on the farm would be, and them writing what our job is.  I loved the one that said, "My job on the farm is riding the chickens."  and also, "My job on the farm is helping the animals."  So cute!!!   We also wrote about what we get from cows.   We received a lot of "milk" responses, but we did get a few burgers, meat, and butter.  I was proud of them. 

The Baby Chicks finally made it to school too!!!  More pics to come!!!

Plymouth Has Come To TK

Well, it took me and my son about 2 1/2 hrs to put together, but we finally created our Native American "Village" and Mayflower ship.  We came to school to put all the items together so the little ones would come into class and be excited and when we came into the school we received a stinky surprise.  Some of our Pumpkin Literacy project decided to implode and cause a great deal of smell and mess.  It took us an hour to clean it all up, and THEN on the way out the wonderful, sturdy garbage bags that the school provides, broke and nasty, smelly pumpkin guts fell out all over the place.  Oh... what we do for our little ones!!!!

 

Sorry about the rant!!  Never the less... We created and finished our little history exhibits and they were ready for my guys and girls!!!  They loved it!!



My son really wanted the kids to have a "stove top" to put the pot on over the flames, but we couldn't figure out what to use, so he rigged this string.  It lasted about an hour with the kids... but it was cute ;)

 





I made the flames, logs and rocks during our 3 day weekend over the Veterans Day holiday.  The tutorial I used can be found here... but I have to say I really just free handed it and sewed them together as best as I could.  I figure the kids don't mind the tattered ends, and I was right.  They just loved it and have been using it for so many different things.

This is our TK Mayflower.  I couldn't find a photo of the sail without kids in it, and due to privacy issues at our school I am unable to have kids in the photo, even if I block out their faces... sooooo, this is our sad little sail-less Mayflower.  We added some telescopes, oars and the kids have been using our blocks to make planks, bridges and seats everyday. I am so happy with their use of the areas.

 

Next week I will add more props to each center.  We will introduce some clothing, utensils they used and some animal "pelts" to create Native American clothing.  These have been such popular centers this past week, I am seeing a lack of focus when I pull kids for individual work time.  I am thinking I may have to create a work area for individual work time away from the hustle and bustle of the free centers.

 

I am excited to be able to start adding things to my blog.  It has been a long time since I was blogging everyday on my Kozy Kids blog but I am starting to remember to get on her more often!!